A 2009 Derby Story
Each year at this time, New West account manager Gary Elder sits down at his keyboard and writes a short story that incorporates the name of each horse in the upcoming Kentucky Derby. We always look forward to see what he comes up with and thought you might enjoy reading this year’s effort. (Is there a pattern that predicts the winner? You decide!)
Happy Derby!
A Derby Story by Gary Elder
Bernie Clement Freisan, Papa Clem to family and friends, loved to tell war stories. A World War II veteran, he loved to brag about how he helped rescue thousands of Allied troops in France during the famous Battle of Dunkirk in 1940. As a “flying private” he was part of a squadron that called itself “Atomic Rain.” The rest of the crew nicknamed him “West Side Bernie ” because of his California roots.
“We came down on the enemy hard. They’d never see us coming. When my commander gave the order, “Okay Friesan, fire!”, I was ready. There wasn’t any way you could hold me back. They knew when we hit’em, there was nowhere to hide.”
“There were some great guys in that unit. I remember one, Danny Bird. He had a thing for chocolate candy and a short fuse. He was always hot under the collar. That’s why we called him Mr. Hot Stuff. He was always ready to fight at the drop of a hat. Well, we’d been training with some British troops in London and one summer Bird got into it with one of their guys over something and the guy threatened Bird, yelling at him,’I'm gonna take you out with my musket.’ Man, that just set Danny off. He went at the guy and got decked. After we got back to our general quarters, all he kept saying was ‘I want revenge , I want revenge.’ I tried to talk some sense into him. I said, ‘You don’t want to mine that, Bird. You’ll pay a regal ransom.’ Of course, he completely ignored my advice.”
“So anyway a couple days later we’re enjoying a little R & R at some club called the Pioneerof the Nile - I always remembered the name because it was so odd – and who do we run into but this same guy. Bird goes over to him, they start exchanging words and the next thing you know they’re throwing punches. Then a few other guys decide they want to join in the dance and just like that we got a full-scale brawl.”
“That was just Danny. Heck, I saw him a few years back, during the first Gulf War, and he said, ‘Come on, West Side, let’s go have us some fun at that desert party they’re throwin’ over there.’ I just laughed, told him he was as nuts as ever and then we had a couple of beers. Ol’ Bird sure was one of a kind.”
Want to read more Derby stories? Check out the full archive.
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A 2009 Derby Story
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